Magazine for a Firearm

ABSTRACT

A magazine for improved stacking capacity includes a housing, a front wall connected to a back wall by sidewalls, a base, a spring adapted to be received inside a recess in the base in order to reduce the space occupied by the spring. The spring having various spiral sections wherein the spiral section having different lengths so that the spiral sections fit into each other when the spring is compressed against cartridges in order to enable stacking of additional cartridges.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a magazine for firearm, and in particular amagazine with expanded capacity for holding cartridges.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Those skilled in the art have long appreciated the importance ofammunition magazines. A magazine stores a number of cartridges andsequentially feeds them into a firing position within the firearm. Asignificant feature of a magazine is its storage capacity of cartridges.

Usually a magazine is designed as a cavity into which the cartridges arearranged sideways in a row. A tensile pressure is exerted upon the rowby means of a spring that advances the array of cartridges further asthe empty cavity of each fired cartridge is discarded.

A prior art magazines typically include a housing that has a front wall,back wall, sidewalls and a base. The housing has spring forming spiralsmounted inside the housing. Each spiral has about the same length ofother spirals. When the spring is compressed by the weight of thecartridges, the spirals do not fit inside each other. The compressedspring squanders a space that can be utilized to store additionalcartridges.

The spring is attached to the base by an insert piece. The base piece isslideable within tracks inside the walls of the housing. In order tosecure the base to the housing, a pin mounted on the outside surface ofthe base fastens the base to the housing. If the pin is pressed by ascrewdriver or like tool, the pin is released and the base becomesseparated from the housing.

In the case of firearms, the magazine is situated as rod-magazine insidethe handle, whereby the length of the magazine is limited. One strivesto store a maximum of cartridges in this limited length. For thatreason, magazines are mostly designed to take cartridges in two rows,offset against each other, which then come together at the top end.

One particular disadvantage with prior art magazines is the amount ofspace needed to accommodate the spring and the insert piece.

Another disadvantage is that the prior art magazine is difficult toassemble and disassemble.

Another disadvantage is that there are many parts that are susceptibleto malfunction.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide a magazine with an improvedstorage capacity for cartridges.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a magazine that canbe easily assembled and disassembled.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a magazine withfew moving parts to minimize the possibility of malfunction during useof the firearm.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above-listed objects are met or exceeded by the present magazine fora pistol or other firearm that comprises a housing having a front wall,a back wall and side walls, and a base, a spring mounted inside thehousing and adapted to receive cartridge and being biased against thecartridge, the spring being of a generally spiral shape terminating witha downward bent section and adapted to be received in a recess in thebase, and a loader mounted inside the housing and operatively connectedto the spring for enabling stacking and operatively positioning of thecartridges.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates an elevational view of a prior art magazine withportions shown cut away;

FIG. 2 illustrates a rear view of a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention of a magazine showing bullets being stacked inside thehousing;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the present invention showing the downwardbent section of the spring fit inside a recess in the base;

FIG. 4 is a detailed view of the present invention showing the downwardbent section of the spring;

FIG. 5 is another exploded view of the present invention showing thedownward bent section of the spring unlocked;

FIG. 6 illustrates an elevational view of the present invention apreferred embodiment of the magazine with portions shown cut away;

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of the present invention showing detailsof the spring mounted inside the housing of a preferred embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a rear detailed view of the present invention of a spring ofFIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the present invention of a spring ofFIG. 7 when compressed into itself;

FIG. 10 is a frontal view of the present invention of a compressedspring of FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the present invention of a compressed springof FIG. 7.

FIG. 12 is another perspective view of the present invention of acompressed spring of FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A prior art magazine is shown in FIG. 1, the conventional magazine 1 iscomprised of a housing 2 that rests on a base 3. The prior art magazine1 is shown stacked with cartridges 4 that press a loader 5 thatcompresses a spring 6. The spring 6 occupies a significant space insidethe housing 2 of the conventional magazine 1.

The present invention magazine is shown in FIG. 2, the magazine 40 iscomprised of a housing 10 that includes a front wall 18, shown in FIG.6, connected by side walls 16 and 17, to a back wall 15, shown in FIG.6. The sidewalls 16 and 17 terminate with lips 19, which is insertableinto a cartridge chamber of a firearm, which is not shown here. Thehousing 10 rests on a slideable base 11. FIG. 1 shows the magazine 40stacked with cartridges 30. The cartridges 30 press a plate-like loader29, which in turn compresses a spring 20 beneath it. The loader 29enables stacking of cartridges 30 inside the housing 10 andoperationally positioning the cartridges 30 for discharging. Thestructure and function of the loader 29 are well known to those skilledin the art.

The housing 10 terminates with a slideable track 13A slideable insidetrack guide 13 mounted inside the base 11. The U-shaped downward bentsection 24 of spring 20 fits inside the base 11. The spring 20 occupiesminimum space inside the housing 10 because the spring is not entirelymounted on top of the base 11, but rather has a downward bent section 24that dips down inside the base 11. The extra space provided by thedownward section 24 can be utilized to stack additional three or morebullets, compared to conventional magazine.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the spring 20 includes a plurality of spirals,the lowest or third section of the spiral 23 is shown here restingpartially on the surface 14 of the base 11 wherein the third sectionterminates with U-shaped like downward bent section 24 that fitsentirely into a recess 12 inside the base 11. One advantage provided bythe present magazine is reducing the space squandered by the spring 20by having a portion of the spring 20 fits inside the base 11. Anotheradvantage provided by the present magazine is that the downward bentsection 24 secures the base 11 by preventing the slideable base 11 fromsliding out of its position via track guides 13. The bent section 24 canbe made into different designs and shapes by those skilled in the art,depending on the application.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the downward bent section 24 of the spring 20fits entirely inside the recess 12 inside the base 11. A portion of thelowest spiral third section 23 is shown resting on the surface 14 of thebase 11.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 5, the magazine 40 can be easilydisassembled by applying a tool, such as a screwdriver 26, to thedownward bent section 24 forcing it to leave the recess 12 of the base11 and thereby releasing the spring 20. The base 11 can then easilyslide out by pulling it apart from the housing 10 as shown in FIG. 5.

Referring now to a second preferred embodiment in FIGS. 6 and 7, thespring 20 is very compressed and occupies a small space in the housing10, compared to the space occupied by the conventional magazine spring 6shown in FIG. 1. More cartridges 30 can be stacked inside the presentinvention magazine 40 with the use of the spring 20.

Referring now specifically to FIG. 7, the spring 20 generally includesabout three spiral sections, a first section 21, a second section 22 anda last or third section 23. All these spiral sections have different andvarious lengths. When the spring 20 is compressed, it folds into itselfbecause its spiral sections fit into each other.

Referring now to FIGS. 9-12, the different spiral sections 21, 22 and 23of the spring 20 fit into each other. FIG. 9 shows that when spiralsection 21 is compressed it folds onto spiral section 22, which foldsonto section 23 that terminates with the bent section 24. FIG. 10 showsfirst spiral section 21 having different length than the second andthird spiral sections 22 and 23 respectively. The various spiralsections, 21, 22 and 23, of spring 20 can fit into each other by virtueof having different lengths.

FIG. 11 shows a plan view showing the spring 20 folding and compressinginto itself and thereby reducing space occupied by the spring inside themagazine 40 in order to enable stacking of additional cartridges.

FIG. 12 shows various spiral sections 21, 22 and 23 of the spring 20wherein the lowest portion, the third spiral section 23, is preferablythe longest spiral section that terminates with the U-shaped like bentsection 24.

The invention thus concerns a magazine for a Firearm, consisting of ahousing 10, a base piece 11 that can be dismantled, a magazine spring 20and a loader 29, whereby the magazine spring 20 includes a number ofspirals, which press the loader 29 upwards.

The basic task of the invention is therefore to improve the known typesof magazines to the effect that it can take more cartridges in the sameheight. Even one or two more cartridges is a considerable tacticaladvantage. This, according to the invention, can, in a particularlypreferred embodiment, be attained by having the lowest spiral 23 of themagazine spring 20 rest directly on the base piece 11 and has a downwardbent section 24 which slots into an recess 12 in the slideable base 11.The insert becomes unnecessary and the magazine spring can reach furtherdown, even into the base 11. That means a greater stacking space in themagazine 40 and beside that, a reduction of he number of parts. The base11 is secured against shifting by the downward bent section 24 of themagazine spring 20 itself. This can, again, be lifted by means of a tool26 from the outside, enabling the removal of the base 11.

The bent section 24 of the magazine spring 20 is preferably a U-shapedlike section 24 of the last spiral 23 of the magazine spring 20. TheU-shape bent section 24 protects the surface area 14 on the base 11 andwhen assembling, it snaps into the recess 12 more easily. In placing thedownward bent U-shaped like section 24 at the end of the spring 20, itis neither weakened, nor are its characteristics altered. Further, ifthe downward bent section 24 of the spring 20 of the magazine 40 lies ina space across the line of fire, the positioning of the base piece 11 isespecially exact and reliable.

In a preferred embodiment, the spirals 21,22 and 23 of the magazinespring 20 viewed from above have differing shapes, so that spirals orgroups of spirals, when the spring 20 is completely compressed, findspace at least partly inside or outside the next spirals or groups ofspirals. Each spiral has certain length and thickness. Magazine springsare made of a very stiff spring wire, whose diameter in proportion tothe plan view of the spring is very small. Thus, there is greaterfreedom of design in the variation of the plan view forms of the singlespirals or groups of spirals. When the spring 20 is completelycompressed, these no longer lie parallel, but at least for part of theirlength, inside each other. Thus, the height 25 of the magazine spring isconsiderably shortened, and the clearance of the magazine furtherincreased, especially when the spirals or groups of spirals are foreseento be of differing forms over the entire length of the magazine spring20.

1. A magazine for firearm comprising: (a) a housing having a front wall,a back wall, side walls connecting said front wall to said back wall,and a base attached to said housing; (b) a spring mounted inside saidhousing and adapted to receive a plurality of cartridges and beingbiased against said cartridges, said spring being of a generally spiral,said spring includes a plurality of spirals and wherein said pluralityof spirals generally fit inside each other when being pressed againstsaid cartridges; and (c) a loader mounted inside said housing andoperatively connected to said spring for enabling carrying of saidcartridge and operatively positioning said cartridge.
 2. The magazine asset forth in claim 1 wherein said spring terminates with a bent sectionadapted to be received in a recess in said base.
 3. The magazine as setforth in claim 1 wherein said bent section is a U-shaped like section.4. The magazine as set forth in claim 1 wherein said plurality ofspirals having various lengths.
 5. A magazine for firearm comprising:(a) a housing having a front wall, a back wall, side walls connectingsaid front wall to said back wall, and a base attached to said housing;(b) a spring mounted inside said housing and adapted to receive bulletsand being biased against said bullets, said spring being adapted to bereceived in a recess in said base; and (c) a loader mounted inside saidhousing and operatively connected to said spring for enabling carryingof said cartridge and operatively positioning said cartridge.
 6. Themagazine as set forth in claim 5 wherein said spring terminates with abent section adapted to be received in said base.
 7. The magazine as setforth in claim 6 wherein said bent section is a U-shaped like section.8. The magazine as set forth in claim 5 wherein said spring includes aplurality of spirals and wherein said plurality of spirals generally fitinside each other when being pressed against said cartridge.
 9. Themagazine as set forth in claim 8 wherein said spring includes a firstspiral section, a second spiral section and a third spiral section thatterminates with downward bent section, and wherein said third spiralsection is longer than said first and second sections.
 10. The magazineas set forth in claim 9 wherein said third spiral section generallyrests on said base.
 11. A magazine for firearm comprising: (a) a housinghaving a front wall, a back wall, side walls connecting said front wallto said back wall, and a base attached to said housing, and wherein saidhousing being adapted to receive a spring in a recess in said base, saidspring being adapted to receive a cartridge and being biased againstsaid cartridge; and (b) a loader mounted inside said housing and adaptedto be operatively connected to said spring for enabling carrying of saidcartridge and operatively positioning said cartridge.
 12. The magazineas set forth in claim 11 wherein said spring terminates with a bentsection adapted to be received in said base.
 13. The magazine as setforth in claim 12 wherein said bent section is a U-shaped like section.14. The magazine as set forth in claim 11 wherein said spring includes aplurality of spirals and wherein said plurality of spirals generally fitinside each other when being pressed against said cartridge.
 15. Themagazine as set forth in claim 11 wherein said spring includes aplurality of spirals and wherein said plurality of spirals generally fitinside each other when being pressed against said cartridge.
 16. Amagazine for firearm comprising: (a) a housing having a front wall, aback wall, side walls connecting said front wall to said back wall, anda base attached to said housing; (b) a spring mounted inside saidhousing and adapted to receive a plurality of cartridges and beingbiased against said cartridges, said spring being of a generally spiral,said spring includes a plurality of spirals and wherein said spring hasa first extended position and a second retracted position, wherein saidspring has a height in said second retracted position less than the sumof the thickness of said plurality of spirals; and (c) a loader mountedinside said housing and operatively connected to said spring forenabling carrying of said cartridge and operatively positioning saidcartridge.
 17. The magazine as set forth in claim 16 wherein said springterminates with a bent section adapted to be received in a recess insaid base.